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The Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri, who is currently preparing for the AFC Asian Cup alongside his teammates in Qatar, took some time to speak to the official website of AIFF. The 39-year-old revealed how his wife Sonam Bhattacharya felt that he was taking too much pressure regarding the upcoming tournament and beyond and helped deal with the issue.
As the highest goalscorer in the Asian continent among the active players, with 93 goals in 145 international appearances, Sunil Chhetri has been a poster boy of Indian football for many years. Still, the hunger showcased by the Indian captain to win matches for the national team has been second to none.
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The interview of Sunil Chhetri with the official AIFF website started with him speaking about how he wants to keep on transforming himself into an 18-year-old on the football pitch. He was quoted as saying, “ That's the way I want to play, whatever time I have left with the National Team.”
Then, the Indian footballing superstar revealed one of his chats with his wife, and said, “I had a chat with my wife about the Asian Cup and the World Cup Qualifiers against Afghanistan later, and it seemed to her that I was taking too much pressure with these matches.”
“ She told me to just go out there and enjoy. You s tart playing football because you love it . When we used to play the small-sided games as kids, it was for the enjoyment of the game. But when you become pro, you get bogged down by all the noise and expectations, and the wins and the losses. Sometimes we tend to forget why we started it all. The essence of football is lost,” Sunil Chhetri added.
The 39-year-old also spoke about how important enjoying the game is, as a professional footballer. He remarked, “It's all about the mindset of going out there and enjoying it. Of course, you still have to maintain discipline, and do all the things that you have to do around football, you can't forget your duties, but at the end of the day, once you go out there, you should enjoy what you're doing.”
